Barry Eric Odell Pain (1864 – 1928) – British journalist, author and poet

Born in Cambridge on 28^th September 1864, Barry’s parents were John Odell Pain and his wife Maria, nee Pain.  Barry had the following siblings: Herbert, b. 1857, Allison, b. 1859, Aubrey, b. 1863, Edgar, b. 1867, Edith Maud, b. 1869 and Arthur, b. 1871.  The family lived in Sidney Street, St. Andrew the Great, Cambridge.

Barry was educated at Sedbergh School then Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was a regular contributor to “The Granta”, a Cambridge under graduates’ literary magazine.  “The Granta” was founded in 1889 by a group of Cambridge students and named after the river that runs through Cambridge.  It was brought up-to-date as a literary magazine in 1979 and is now published quarterly.

In June 1892, Barry married Amelia Nina A. Lehman, a cousin of Forgotten Poet Rudolf Chambers Lehmann who was also a Justice of the Peace and a Liberal MP. Barry and Amelia had two children – Nancy Erica, b. 1893 and Eva Amelia, b. 1897.  In 1911, Barry and his family were living in Marylebone in London. 

Barry joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served as a Chief Petty Officer during the First World War.

He had poetry, short stories and non-fiction published between 1891 and 1921 and his war poems were included in 12 WW1 poetry anthologies.

Barry died in Bushey, Hertfordshire on 5^th May 1928.

Sources:

Catherine W. Reilly “English Poetry of the First World War A Bibliography” (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978)

Martin Stephen, Ed. “Poems of the First World War ‘Never such Innocence’ (Everyman, J.M. Dent, London, 1993

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